Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Monday that the Department of Defense and the Justice Department have formed a joint task force to identify and prosecute government officials who share sensitive national defense information with the press.
- Hegseth gave the Pentagon’s Office of General Counsel expanded authority to obtain records for leak probes and ordered Pentagon offices to provide requested information within 48 hours.
- The Justice Department has issued grand-jury subpoenas to New York Times reporters in the same set of investigations, and DOJ spokespeople say reporters themselves are not the targets of the inquiries.
- Journalists and critics have pushed back by citing a December 2025 Pentagon inspector general report that found Hegseth shared nonpublic strike details over an unapproved messaging app, raising questions about the initiative’s credibility and selective enforcement.
- The move continues a broader pattern of leak-related legal pressure this year, including earlier subpoenas and a January raid, and it could prompt more litigation, newsroom resistance, and tighter limits on internal information flow inside the Pentagon.